Mark Regev
Mark Regev
Mark Regevis an Israeli diplomat and civil servant, and the Ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom since April 2016. Prior to that, he was the chief spokesman for the Prime Minister of Israel, a position he held from 2007 to 2015. Originally from Australia, he moved to Israel in 1982...
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The question that many Israelis have on their minds is whether this is cosmetic or is this a substantial move in the right direction. Of course we very much hope it is the latter.
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We found solutions both sides can live with. The challenge was to find a successful balance between the very real security threats faced by Israel, while providing maximum movement in and out of Gaza for the Palestinians. I think it's a win-win agreement.
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We want to send a very clear and unequivocal message that after attacks like this it's not business as usual. We expect them to follow through on their promises -- that these armed gangs be disarmed. Our entire ability to move forward is based on that promise.
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We want to see maximum movement at the crossings, but that decision has to be weighed next to the very real security threats that there are, ... If we opened every crossing and there were a wave of suicide bombings, then we'd just have to close everything down again.
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We're hopeful that Europe will continue to move forward in its attitude to the Israel-Palestinian issue and not return to the more one-sided approach that we've seen in the past.
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We have to move ahead on the crossings issue by balancing the very real security threats with the desire to allow for maximum possible movement of people and goods.
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The fear was that extremists would use porous borders to pour into Gaza to bring in explosives, weaponry cash, and that would energize the most extremist elements in the Gaza Strip instead of helping the moderates. I think this agreement that we have reached today has the right balance. It provides the maximum possible movement for Palestinians to move in and out of Gaza, as they desire and for goods to come in and out of Gaza, and at the same time for that to be balanced with the very real security concerns that everyone has.
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I know the Israeli negotiating team, headed by our foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, left here with a feeling, with a sense that we do have something to work with and it is possible to move forward.
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When you have these attacks you can't go on with business as usual. We want to send a clear message to the Palestinian leadership that they have to do more to prevent violence.
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We will defend our citizens and act against the terrorist groups.
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We would be entitled to use all legal means to prevent that money reaching terrorists.
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There is a concern on our side that the moneys transferred will come back to haunt us in the form of suicide bombings.
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We believe only if the regime in Tehran understands that the international community is indeed serious, there is a chance that these sort of cat and mouse games played by the regime will cease.
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We understand there are real needs, and we'll do what we can, but we can't just open up the borders immediately, because of security concerns. We'll do things incrementally.